Friday morning and I’m sitting here watching the silly squirrel continue to stretch out to the feeder it can barely reach, grab a sunflower seed or two an sit back on the tree branch and eat them, and repeat the process, over and over for maybe 15 minutes or so. Then it will run off and be back again in no time at all. In the meantime, the birds are also busy this morning at the feeders. There is nothing too interesting at the moment but I did have the Pileated Wood pecker in here earlier. It has been raining some off and on and will continues to do that throughout the day. 

My friend and parishioner, Bob, had his surgery this morning to remove his eye. The surgery went textbook and his daughter has now taken him home. Maybe they both can get some rest. The surgery was early and she said that she was barely able to stay awake. I doubt either of them got any sleep last night. I just pray that this surgery will accomplish what it was supposed to do, ie get rid of all of the infection and maybe even stop the problem he has had with shingles in that eye for the past eight years. But, it will be quite an adjustment for him, not physically having that eye even though he hasn’t been able to see out of it for some time. 

I had a busy day yesterday. I got all of my years mowed and went over and mowed Dan’s front yard. Then Ms. Kate and I went out and “dead-headed” a bunch of the iris and the peonies. Blooming season is about over. The azealias are about done as are the iris and the peonies. The lilies are kind of in between the early ones and the late ones. I really need to get in there and try to get rid of the danged morning glory vines. That is a never ending process. I don’t know how we ended up with morning glories but they have been a pain in my butt for several years.I think that I picked them up in a load of mulch or horse manure that I got from a local farmer years ago. I just know that you can’t get rid of them. They come up every year and take over a flowerbed like kudzu. I have another “weed “ that has come up called sedge. I’m trying to fight that too. It is more like a grass and I don’t know how that got started either. It is growing up all over my poppy plants and if I don’t get it under control, it will kill out my poppies. It is a never ending battle around here and I’m getting too old to continue to fight them. 

This is Memorial Day weekend. Tomorrow the VFW will be at the cemeteries doing a 21 gun salute and TAPS at each of the churches. It’s an annual thing they have done for years. We don’t have a lot of veterans in our cemetery at either church, but, I appreciate the fact that they come out and honor them. 

That’s it for today. I hope your weekend is safe and blessed. Peace. 

 A Blessed Thursday morning to you. It’s 68 degrees at my house. It has been raining some although my new fangled weather machine that the kids bought me says that we’ve only had .63 inches of rain in the past twenty four hours. That’s all good because as I said yesterday, we were needing rain. The forecast for the next couple of days though predict more rain and possibly some severe storms. We have a “cold front” moving in and that kind of gives me pause about our outdoor worship service on Sunday. If the temperature is only around 60 degrees, people are not going to want to be sitting out there at 0900. The wind always blows up there because the church sits in the middle of open fields. The high for Sunday is supposed to be 77 degrees and the weather call for nothing but sun, so, by the time people are ready to BBQ at home it will be ideal, but at church time, they won’t want to be out. I guess we will have to make some late decisions. There is a lot of work that goes into setting up the tents and hauling out the key board and speakers and all of the other stuff that goes with getting things prepped and ready. 

Yea for me! I finished up my Father’s Day service and sermon last night and got the worship service done for the 27th. Now I have to write the sermon for the 27th of June and I’ll have June all taken care of. Wow, June 27this one month from today! That means we are 33 days from 2021 being half over. It sure seems to be going a lot faster now that the country is “getting back to some sort of normal”. I sure hope the world gets this danged COVID stuff under control soon. I haven’t heard any real news in the past couple of days but the last I heard was the the country India was terribly in trouble because of COVID and that people were dying by the thousands every day. India is a country that doesn’t bury their dead like we do; they do funeral pyres, i.e. they put their dead on big piles of wood and burn the bodies. The last I saw or heard the reports were that there were funeral pyres everywhere. I con’t imagine the smell and the horror of all of that. 

I think I’m going to go out and cut some flowers and take a bouquet up to my buddy Bob’s house. They are supposed to do surgery on him in the morning to remove his infected eye. Or, —- maybe I’ll just call him and talk to him for awhile. I know he is terribly depressed and has good reason to be. Life is not being very good to him at the moment. He’s worn out from all of this and so is the family from taking care of him. I pray the removal of the eye will bring a halt to the infection and pain that he is having to endure. I would ask you to lift him up. While you are praying, I have four more of my parishioners that have cancer and can certainly use all the prayers we can lift up. You don’t need to know their names, God knows them.  I would just ask for comfort for the members of my parish. 

Well, the sun is out and I think I will go check to see how wet the grass is and whether or not I can maybe mow. More rain and storms are coming later today so as they say, “gotta’ make hay while the sun shines”. Have yourself a blessed day. Peace. 

 A rainy morning has relieved me of the duty to go water the garden again. That’s great because God does a so much better job, God gets it all even and just the right amount and at just the right speed. We’re having a nice light and gentle rain. That means the flowers and the veggies don’t get all beat down. Thank you very much Lord.

My friend and parishioner, Bob is at the eye doctor this morning.  He has had so much trouble with his one eye. He first got shingles in eight years ago and has spent the last eight years putting drop in it. A couple of months ago it developed an infection and causing him pain. The doctors have had him on new antibiotics and that didn’t help. For the past two weeks his daughter Brenda has had to put drops every hour in his eye. He had to have a drop every five minutes through four different medications. So that meant he spent twenty minutes of every hour during walking hours getting drops in his eyes. It continued to get worse and they decided yesterday to do a cornea transplant this morning. Last night it started weeping and bleeding and this morning the doctor said no to the transplant, and now they are waiting at another doctor’s office and he will have the eye removed. I feel so very bad for him. He’s 88 and doesn’t need to be going through this. So, I’m asking for prayers for him. By the time you read this, it will probably be done, but —- pray he can adjust to this new reality. God’s will be done. 

Ms. Kate fixed one of my favorite things for my breakfast this morning; — sugar & cinnamon biscuits. That’s a pan of biscuits, dipped in melted butter and then dipped in a sugar and cinnamon mix. Simple but so very good. I had started getting stuff out to make them but Ms. Kate came in and took over, no, it didn’t hurt my feelings at all. 

Today I have to get my tail end down stairs to my office and do some serious writing. I had my June twentieth sermon half written but last night I decided to go a different way that I had started. So, I’m kind of back to the drawing board.Then I need to do the June 27th service and message. The I can relax. It’s a great thing to do on a rainy couple of days. 

On that, I will stop, take my shower, and get busy for the day.  Have a wonderful day. Peace. 

 It’s 73 degrees on this bright Tuesday morning. The air is still with only a slight breeze. Moving the tree leaves a bit. It’s gonna be a hot one today again. I think though that we have some rain in our forecast for tonight and off an on for the next couple of days. . We could really use some again. 

I really need to fill all of the bird feeders today. I have been letting them all get emptied. I told you a few days ago I was going to not fill them so quickly so that maybe the starlings and blackbirds would find an alternative feeding spot. I have not seen any of them this morning. Yesterday they came around a few times but when they found their favorite food not there, they left. What is silly is that I have two feeders that are full with the same product, but in a different form, and they don’t touch it. Birds are weird. The Pileated Woodpecker is back today and brought a friend. That always thrills me. Ms. Kate said that she saw two of them here yesterday too out there on the feeders. That is a thrilling thought that they might nest here somewhere. ——- Okay, I had to stop and go fill my feeders. They were too empty and too many guests were in line at the Buffet. 

I’m going to stay inside today as the mercury makes it’s way on up to 90 or there about. I’m trying to get all of my June services done before I head out on vacation. I’m currently writing June 20th and have a title  and outline for June 27th. I don’t want to have to rush back and scramble in to something right away so that it feels like I haven’t been on vacation at all. 

Had another sad thing yesterday afternoon. (I don’t think I told you this) One of my parishioners called me and told me that his two and a half year old granddaughter has passed away. She was born with so very many physical things wrong with her that the doctors didn’t actually expect her to live more than a month. Well, doctors are great but God has a plan. He allowed that child to bring love and joy and hope into that family for two and a half years. The parents certainly learned that they are capable of doing a lot more and had a lot more strength than they thought possible. God is so good and young Maria served His purpose and now she has gotten to go back home and her soul is at rest. God be praised. We just never know the plan, do we. 

That’s it for today/ Have a blessed one and then give thanks for the blessings. Peace. 

 Good morning! Happy new week and the last week of May; can ya’ believe it? It is a hot one already this morning. It is now 81 degrees at 1100 and is going up to 90 today. The humidity is still not as bad as it can get but it is bad enough. 

I started my new week off with some sad news. My cousin Debbie texted me that she lost her mom last night. My Aunt Louise was 88 years old and was a joy to be around. She was always my favorite. She was genuine, she was fun and her laughter was infectious. She was someone I could talk to and grouse to when  things were not going well between me and my mother. Aunt Louise was the last member of that generation of the family. That makes me the eldest family member now. We are going to miss her. 

Services went well yesterday at both churches. I thought there might be more people there since it was Pentecost Sunday, perhaps they stayed home and watched it on the television. This coming Sunday is Memorial Day weekend and I suspect that will also diminish the crowd. We start our All-Parish worship service this Sunday and they will run through August. So far the weather forecast for Sunday is fantastic and that is perfect because we are doing an outdoor worship service. One of the parishioners has a couple of large tents and will set those up. I am really looking forward to that\.

I’m writing a little later this morning because I went out first thing this morning to beat the heat and hoed the garden and watered all of the plants with a Miracle Gro solution. I pulled up a bunch of my radishes Saturday because they had gone to seed. I need to pull the rest up too. My squash look great and has blossoms on it, he tomatoes are getting bigger\ but the cucumber plant just sits there as does the Swiss-chard and Basil. The peas are looking good and the potatoes look great. My okra isn’t doing much either so far. I hope by watering with the Miracle -Gro things will now start to take off. And, now that we are hopefully past all of the crazy changes in temperature, stuff will settle down and grow. 

That’s about it for today. I hope you have a very happy week. Walk with God. Peace.

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 I wrote this morning on Facebook that I have determined that Starlings and Blackbirds are the Hyenas of the aviary world. They are opportunistic, nasty, come in gangs, bully the other birds and each other, and won't leave a feeder until they have stripped it to empty. I have filled the two feeders that they love three times this week and they are empty again. As I have said before, all of the birds absolutely love the "Bark Butter Bit" that I put in those two feeders but the starlings and black birds absolute treat it like crack. I decided that I am going to let them set empty for a bit or maybe put sunflower seed in them. The problem with sunflower seed is that the squirrels will get on them and tear them up. Sigh!! But, if I leave them empty for a few days, maybe the blackbirds will move on. There is a gaggle of at least a dozen that are out there all the time.  Grrrr.

That's my rant for this morning. Now, I'm going to drop off and enjoy my weekend. Hope you have a good one too. 

 

 Happy Friday my friends. It is another beautiful morning, sunny, 66 degrees, which in my opinion makes it a perfect start to the day. 

I began my morning seeing that the internet was still out so I sat down with my IPhone and my IPad and called Spectrum once again. I think this was the 4th or 5th call to them. But, today I got a fellow that actually helped me. I know nothing about all of this stuff but he said it was very possible that due to the power outage my router had reset itself to factory setting which is why none of my devices would recognize me. So, we went through “a process” and viola’ I have internet again. True —- I could use the internet if I turned on my hotspot on my IPhone but that is not what I’m paying for. And, —- I don’t know if that costs me more or what. I’m just thankful to have it back. 

I had a productive and tiring day yesterday. I got the yard all mowed, got my tomatoes tied up and pulled out a bunch of my radishes that had gone to seed. I also cleaned off the back patio and then moved the “indoor plants” outside for the summer. Those pots are heavy. I’m only having to moves five these days. But two of them contain trees. I also have two huge pots of geraniums and a shamrock plant. But it is nice to be able to look out the sun porch without peering through those two trees. Come late October I’ll reverse the process and bring them back in. Having finished all of that, I put some pork chops on the grill while Ms. Kate fixed some potatoes and zucchini squash to go with them. Yummy food. I think today we’ll maybe throw some chicken thighs on the BBQ. 

I filled up the bird feeders again yesterday. This morning my guests are hard at them. The Pileated Woodpecker is back\. He has been around here for the past couple of days. It is an awesome bird. Ms. kate mentioned yesterday though that we had not seen any Goldfinches the last couple of days. I had not noticed that so I’ll have to watch for them today. I’m sure they are around. Yesterday I sat there and listened to all of the birds singing and it was like a choir. Very peaceful to sit in a recliner with a breeze blowing through and the sound of the Corinthian Chimes and bird song filling the air. It’s a blessing. 

I think that’s it. It is the weekend. I hope you have a safe one and a pleasant one. Sunday is Pentecost Sunday and I pray you will invite and allow the Holy Spirit to fill  your heart and mind. Have a blessed weekend. 

 Good morning! What a beautiful morning we are having. The sun is shining brightly and it is already 78 degrees out side. The feeders are filled and the guests are busy. Yesterday afternoon I had a Pileated Woodpecker here again, you know how I love those guys. 

That’s the good part of the morning. Now for my grumpy [art. We tell ourselves that we can get along well without this technology stuff just fine. We answer question on Facebook about could we live in this cabin in the woods for a year without wifi etc for a million bucks and we say “oh yes!” But somehow, that all goes out the window when you get up in the morning and the cable and wifi are out. That was the first words I heard from Ms. Kate this morning, just after “Good morning”. So, I did “the thing”. I unplugged and replugged the router, multiple times. I called Spectrum and found out that there was an area wide outage and that it was being worked on and expected to be back on in an hour and a half. In the meantime, I used my IPhone hotspot to get us at least on our IPads. The cable came back on  but not the wifi. So, I called Spectrum again and connected to a service agent (somewhere in America), and she worked and worked to get my router on line. Probably 15 minutes into the process, she said that she just got a signal that there was a wifi interruption in my area and that it is expected to be back on around noon. So —— here I am back on my hotspot again as I write this. So, this has been a bit of a GRRRRRRRRR morning. Now, I measure that up against people who actually have real problems such as several of my friends and parishioners who have cancer etc, and I feel small.

What I need to do is take my shower and then get busy doing some garden work and mow my lawn and do some weed whacking etc. If, when I’m done with that and the wifi still isn’t up, I can still work on writing a sermon that I have to write and that doesn’t require wifi. 

That’s about all I have for ya’ today. I hope you have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Good afternoon. What a pleasant afternoon it has turned out to be. It is currently 80 degrees and a nice breeze is blowing. I’ve been sitting here watching the. Birds at the freshly refilled Backyard Buffet and listening to the sound of the Corinthian Chimes as they steadily sway back and forth in the breeze. I would call that enough to lull a guy into a nap except the dang phone keeps ringing from Robo-calls. Of course if you answer it, there is no one on the line. I wish I could know where the profit is in all of that. Do they make money if I just pick up the phone or what. I’ve done some reading on them and the problem is getting worse. Sigh!!!

We did have a busy day yesterday. We did three loads of laundry, not that big but still, —- went to the grocery store and bought a couple of hundred bucks worth of groceries. That’s what happens when you put off going, and put off going, and then go when you’re hungry. LOL But, we are well stocked for daily eating and part of that was stuff for the upcoming vacation trip. 

I spent a good deal of my evening talking with another of my licensed minister contemporaries. It’s a tough time for those of us in the conservative mind set. As Licensed Pastors our tenure is debatable every year and no one pays any attention to what we think within the Ordained Clergy circles. It gets a bit frustrating. But we either press on or we move on. 

Time to get the stuff out for supper. I think we will do some leftovers tonight: pasta with shrimp is a great “left over”. 

I pray you will have a blessed evening and a good night. If you haven’t taken time to give praise and thank to God yet today, please do before you pull the covers up over your head. Peace. 

 Tuesday and rain. That’s not a fun way to start the day. Actually the rain has been so light that not even all of the sidewalk is wet, just sprinkles on and off. Where the tree hangs over the sidewalk, it isn’t even wet. I’ll need to probably mix up some Miracle Gro in a bucket and water my garden plants. It is supposed to slow down any rain and then it is supposed to turn to summer heat. I guess it is about time, 

I had a long talk with a friend last night who is a fellow lay minister. He’s been at his church as long as I have been at mine. His church just voted on Sunday to leave our denomination. That is happening quite a bit in our small rural churches. The denomination has gotten so liberal and many of us feel that it is straying away from the Gospel. I hate that for him, and I hate that they congregation feels that the denomination has left them. But, I understand exactly where they are coming from. I’m not sure what he is going to do and how it all plays out legally. His church council “called him” to be their pastor as a new church so I know he can perform the sacraments, marry and bury. There is an organization called the Evangelical Association of Reformed, Congregational Churches (EARCC) that has formed for churches to associate themselves with. Churches from several denominations that are dissatisfied with their denomination are joining together under this group. Frankly I can see where my parish would fit right in with them because we too are a conservative parish and are falling out of the mainstream of the times. But, I won’t suggest to either church that we leave the denomination. They need to decide on their own. The worst thing that could happen for me is that one of my churches would decide to leave and the other would decide to stay. I would have to decide between the churches and I never want to have to do that. I love both of these churches and their congregations. So, I pray for my friend and I pray for his congregations. They have a few tough hurdles to jump before it is all said and done. 

We have the laundry going today and I think it is about time to go to the store for some groceries and to Office Depot for Ms. Kate to get something that she needs for her card making. Have a blessed day. Take advantage of the sunshine. Peace. 

 Good morning on this cloudy Monday morning. I hope that your day has started out full of blessings and that you have already stopped and given thanks for them. 

First off, I want to say that when I’m wrong, I admit it. I have been whining, and grousing and dreading the six-hour Zoom session for my Boundary Training that was held Saturday. Well, I was all worked up for no reason. It was a really good session; probably the best one of those that I have had to attend. The topics were mostly about self care, care of our parishioners, social media use and things like that. The conversation and discussion was good and stayed off of the subjects that are currently being pushed down our throats by the denomination. So, thank you Missouri, Mid-South UCC Conference. Ya’ done good. And —- since attending is an every three year requirement, if my plans hold, it will be my last one until I finally fully retire. Being a “Lay-Licensed Minister” as opposed to an Ordained minister, once I retire, the associations have zero hold on me. 

Saturday, I finished cleaning up the north side of yard. I found a peony plant that I didn’t know was still there and I found three bird feeders that I had forgotten about. It really looks good through there now. I think I will move that peony soon. It doesn’t get any sun where it is. I have a couple of other to move too. 

I just had to order another 35 pounds of Bark Butter Bits for the Backyard Buffet. That took $99.99 out of a $100 dollar bill. The good news is that they delivery it and the shipping is free. I’m taking care to make sure I have that particular stuff because the Bluebirds love it and it appears they are staying around for awhile. I’m thrilled about that. The downside is the dang gaggle of starlings and blackbirds that also absolutely love it. But, if I have to feed them to also keep my Bluebirds, —- so be it. As Ms. Kate reminds me, — God made them too. Of course God also created a plague of locusts and I don’t want them either. 

Speaking of bugs — I keep reading and seeing news about the “17 year cicadas” that are supposed to be crawling up out of the ground and making their noise for a couple week weeks while they breed and lay their eggs and die. So far I haven’t heard any at all. I’m not sure when that is supposed to happen but I thought it was now. I don’t mind that sound at all. It is a good summer sound. 

I’m so very proud of my parish. The St. Lucas half of it will be celebrating their 100th anniversary in September. As a celebration, they decided to join with the Isaiah 117 project and buy 100 bicycles for foster-home kids. It would have cost us about $8,000.00 for the bike and helmet, I think I told you that. Yesterday, we topped $11,000.00 in collections. The congregation really stepped up and promoted it and have gotten large donations from corporations. I am frankly overwhelmed at how they have supported this project. 

That’s it for today. I hope you have a wonderful week. Peace. 

 Here we are at the end of another work week. TGIF, I suppose. Although, if you don’t have an everyday job, it’s just another day isn’t it? One of the drawbacks to being “retired” is not having holidays and “days off to look forward to. Even though I’m not fully retired, I still get lost in the time thing and forget about holidays. If it weren’t for having to recognize some of them through the church, I’d probably miss most of them. 

I went to see my friend again yesterday who had the accident with his garage. Wow, what a mess he made. He is so very fortunate. Obviously, God was watching over him. The whole back wall is gone and I’m not sure about the stability of the building. I had to smile at him though; we were inside the garage looking at the damage and as we walked out, he reached up and latched the door to lock it; and I thought to myself, — “Uh, there’s np back end on the building, why are you locking this door?”  But habit is habit. 

Today I need to mow the yards for sure. There is rain predicted for the next week off and on. Today is the last full day of sunshine without danger of rain. If I don’t mow today, it won’t get done before it gets tooo tall and then it will look like crapola. I certainly won’t have time tomorrow because I’ll “be in class” for six hours via Zoom. Yuk. I wish I thought it was going to be something to be interesting to me instead of something to be endured for the duration of the class. But, it is what it is and it is a requirement of the church denomination.  I think I told you, it is a Boundary Training class to teach us how to talk and think so that we don’t offend anyone. The people that think this stuff up never stop to think that they are maybe offending those of us that they are forcing this stuff on. Nor do they care which I think makes the whole thing an oxymoron. 

Ms. Kate made a delicious dinner last evening. I had asked her to six spaghetti with shrimp and asparagus for dinner which she did. It’s one of my favorites. Although, she makes a lot of things that are my favorite. Let’s face it — she’s a great cook. That’s amazing since she never learned to cook when she was young. But we have lots of cookbooks around here and she has even compiled one of her own. Each of the girls has a copy of it. 

Enough for today, I got to get busy. Have a blessed weekend. Peace. 

 Good morning and a happy Thursday morning to you. It is a beautiful morning once again, still cool and a bit breezy. I wouldn't want to walk around outside in a swim suit and flip flops. Maybe later when the temperature guts up past 65. LOL

I don't have anything in particular on my agenda today which only means I have time to get a lot of "stuff" done or take it easy and do nothing and let all of the "stuff" just wait. I do know that we need to run to the grocery store today to pick up some green onions for inclusion in tonight's dinner and I need to get a can or two of coffee. Never want to run out of coffee -- that would be disastrous. I also want to go finish up my cleaning up of the north side of the house. It should not take me as long as it did the other day and I'll feel much better if I finish the job. 

I got started on my Memorial Day weekend worship service last night. I have the actual service done; I just need to write the sermon. I think I'm going to use John 3:1-17, the story of Nicodemus making the night time visit to talk to Jesus. It's a good story with a lot of messages for us to apply to our lives. 

I went to see my friend yesterday after we finished up at the churches. He was in a heck of a fix. He's a good ten years older than me and he had gotten his lawn mower stuck in a ditch. So, while he went and got his truck to pull it out,  I walked down to the mower and waited to help him. We did get it out of the ditch and he drove his truck back up to the garage while I put the mower in the barn. Ms. Kate and I left and he was going to put his truck back inside of his garage. Well, somehow his foot got stuck and he shot into the garage, taking out the freezer, refrigerator, and the back wall. At that he panicked, I guess, put it in reverse and shot backwards out of the garage, across the driveway and into the bean field. Bless his heart. I should have offered to put the truck in the garage for him. The good news is that he wasn't hurt at all, just scared and confused. But now he has a torn up garage and a banged up truck and a smashed freezer and refrigerator. Gettin' old ain't for sissies. 

With that, I'll sign off. Have a blessed day. 

 It is a windy Wednesday morning. It’s 55 degrees but that wind is going to keep the temperature down. However, it is a beautiful morning. I’ve been sitting in the sun porch watching my guests at the Backyard Buffet. What an array I have had. Birds of every size and color have been here this morning. It is obvious I filled feeders yesterday. 

It’s Wednesday so that of course means that we will go up to the churches and run our bulletins and set up the pulpits for Sunday. On the way we will stop and see Bob; he has some asparagus for us. He said it is only a handful but he was nice enough to go out and cut it for us. He has a fellow that has been cutting it and taking it to market to sell. I think he still sells it to the local grocery store. He has done that for years. He’s 88 years old so his gardening days are done except for the asparagus and that comes up every year. He used to plant about three dozen tomato plants and they grew to be huge and had the best tomatoes on them. But, like I said, it is much more than he can handle now. I hate that for him. For years he planted a bunch of the best sweet corn and tomatoes, and then when the corn was done he would sow turnip seeds. He would get out there and water the garden every day and he put a lot of Miracle Grow on his stuff. But —- that was then, this is now. We all get old and our abilities lessen more every year. 

I wore myself out yesterday. The north side of the yard had gotten totally out of control with weeds and vines. I spent probably four hours out there yesterday weed whacking and pulling and trimming. I filled up my trash can with stuff and I’m still not done. I still have another 20’X20’ section to go. There are peonies and clematis out there that were being choked out because of the weeds. I need to move those peonies because they are not getting the sun they need. I have room on the south side of the house that I’m probably going to turn into another peony bed. I currently have my okra in there but after the okra is done for the summer, I will pull that up and put the peonies in there. The okra is new in the ground so it will be all summer before I move the peonies, probably when they are ready to be cut back in the fall. I also am hoping that the temperature will warm up soon and the weather stay dry. I have a bunch of sedge growing in a flower bed that I need to spray and kill. But, it really needs to be in the 70’s for it to work well. Work, work, work!

Okay, time to clean up and get busy. Y’all have a blessed day. Peace,.

 It’s a very cool Tuesday morning; 42 degrees but the sun is bright and the breeze is light. (Did you catch that little rhyme?). My backyard guests are very unhappy this morning, It looks like every feeder is empty. . I’m going to stop here and fill some for them. 

Okay, I think that will hold them for a bout two days I have a couple of sunflower seed feeders that are empty right up by the window but that’s okay because there are other feeders out there have have sunflower seed in them. I mainly wanted to fill the bark butter paste and pellet feeders because the woodpeckers and the bluebirds and grosbeaks are coming to those. Of course sine I as out there walking around they have flown off but they will be back in three minutes or less. And, — if they aren’t, somehow the starlings will get the word that the Buffet has been refilled. 

I had a really great morning yesterday. I actually did my first Nursing Home visitation since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Places are starting to open up again. Nursing homes shut down and residents could have no visitors for the last year except to see their loved ones out the window of their rooms. It was so sad. People actually lost loved ones and could not be with them in their last moments. But, yesterday I went to see a couple  that are in an assisted living facility. They have rooms right across the hall from one another and he spends all day in her room. He pushes down to the dining room, and he feeds her. It is so wonderful that they can be together like that. It was great to be able to go see them. I had to wear a mask to get in of course and they took my temperature as I entered. But once I go to their room I could take my mask off because they have had their COVID vaccine and so have I.  From there I went to visit another parishioner. It was so great to be able to feel like I was doing my “whole job” instead of just writing sermons and preaching. The “pastoral” part of my job is my favorite part, getting to visit with folks and listening to what is going on in their lives. 

I’m not sure what I’m going to put on my list of things to get done today. It was very comfortable being out side but the ground is really too wet to do anything with. I went through a new Peony Catalouge last night and picked out some new ones to buy. I’m not sure where we would put them though. I don’t want tp start a new flowerbed. Lord knows we have enough now. But, we do love our peonies around here. I have no dead hair many w have at the moment. But —- maybe I can find a spot. They need sunshine and that leave the entire backyard yard out because of our trees. Hmmmmm. 

That’s it for today. I hope you get a chance to relax some and enjoy the day. God created a good one for you. Peace. 

 

 Saturday morning, the 8th of May, 2021. Forty-six years ago today I graduated with my BA and at the ceremony Ms. Kate pinned my little gold 2nd Lt. Bars on my shoulders. I still remember the master of ceremonies saying, “Well, at least one of them got a job”. It was the beginning of a great military career that I thought might go twenty years and with any luck at all I could retire as a Lt. Col. As it turned out, I was extremely fortunate that the career went thirty two years and I retired as a Colonel. God has a way and God has a plan. That plan allowed me to retire with a great pension and benefits. That in turn allowed me to “get on with God’s plan” and become a licensed minister with the United Church of Christ and accept the position as pastor of a couple of small rural churches that needed a pastor but don’t have a large budget. God has a way, God has a plan. I’m still there. 

Ms. Kate and I are going out to a graduation party this afternoon. Her great-nephew  has graduated with his master’s degree and is having a small drop by occasion to celebrate. He’s a great kid that has faced a lot of challenges in his short life and is doing extremely well with his accomplishments. 

Julie has come over from New Albany and is working today at the bookstore at the University of Evansville to help out Becky, the manager there. Becky has two graduations to set up UE paraphernalia for. Parents and grandparents will want to buy stuff from their graduate’s school. It’s always a good money and sales day. 

That’s it for today. Just dropping by for a quick “howdy” and hoping you are doing well. If you are a mom that is reading this, Have a blessed Mother’s Day tomorrow. Peace. 

 It’s Friday morning again. This was a fast week, or so it seems. Isn’t funny how some weeks just seem to creep along and others zoom past us and are gone before we know it. It’s a sunny morning but cool, 52 degrees with a slight breeze. 

I apologize for missing you yesterday. I had a really busy day. I spent the morning taking care of a bunch of stuff that has been on my to do list that I just hadn’t taken care of. It was a bunch of “one of these days we need to” items, so yesterday morning I did them. I’ve said before that I I say I’m going to take care of something, there is no need to keep reminding me about every six months. LOL On the more pressing matters though, I did get the front and back yard mowed. I wanted to do that before the rain started. As it turns out, the rain didn’t amount to squat and I needn’t have rushed into it. But I also got a bunch of my trimming done. But, I got caught up on stuff and can check things off of the list. 

Today we are going to Sam’s. I want to get a couple of steaks from there\ for Mother’s Day. We bought one there a couple of weeks ago and it was maybe one of the best we have had in a long time. Since Sunday is Mother’s Day I know that all of the restaurants will be crowded so I ask Ms. Kate if I could fix another one of those steaks for her. Julie will be here too and will enjoy that. The downside is that it is supposed to rain which just means I’ll get wet doing my grilling. But, I’m in no danger of melting. 

Julie is coming by here today and dropping her stuff off and then going to the University of Evansville to help the bookstore manager there for a while. They are have a graduation event that the manager has to attend, so Julie will hold down the store for her while her friend manages the other event. I think she said that mostly she will be handling book returns from semester end. 

My Backyard Buffet guests this morning include Red-breasted Grosbeak, Cardinals, Gold-finch, Doves, House-finches, Bluejays, Mockingbirds, Wrens, Downy Woodpeckers, Red-headed Woodpeckers, and of course, Starlings. It is quite a menagerie today. They challenge one another for feeder space. I filled several feeders yesterday afternoon. I haven’t seen any squirrels at the feeders this morning but I did have one up in the poplar tree and he was “cutting leaves”. They frequently come in and will gut off just the end of branches to get leaves to make a new nest somewhere. I think they use these tulip poplar leaves because the leaf is broader. Durning the winter when the trees are bare, you can see “squirrel nests” in a lot of the trees in this neighborhood. 

Well, that’s it for today. Enjoy your day, talk to God and keep your mind at peace. 

 It’s a fine, fine morning. But, what the heck am I doing up at 0600? I guess I got the sleep my body required but it is still awful early for me. I have no doubt that if I go sit in my recliner, I’ll doze off. \But, I’m writing from the kitchen table this morning. No reason, this is just as far as I made it. LOL

The sun is shining brightly and it is 52 degrees . The rain has passed through and we are supposed to have a nice day. I think the grass is going to be too wet to mow until at least late in the afternoon. I’d like to put my okra plants in the ground today, but again, it ground will be a bit too muddy. I don’t like to “mud plants in”. Besides, the area that I want to plant in needs to have the “hula-hoe” taken to it and it is too wet for that. Do you have a “hula-hoe”? I find it to be the most useful garden tool I have. We’ve had our for at least twenty years. I’ve never been very good with a regular hoe but this thing scrapes through the dirt just fine. My dad was good with a hoe, but my Grandma Rath was really good with one. And she kept her hoe so sharp. That’s the key of course, keeping them sharp. Grandma was a real character and fun to be around. We were out in the Black Hills of South Dakota one year when I was really young. We were haven’t a picnic in the park and along came a bear and people were scattering. But not Grandma; that bear was not going to get our food. She started chucking stuff at it and ran it off. I think she went on everyone of our vacations when I was a kid. There would be five of us, packed with all of our trip stuff in the Studebaker. She would play “car-games” with us and I suspect my sister and I drove her nuts. 

This being Wednesday, I reckon we will go to the churches and run the bulletins today and set the pulpits up for Sunday. It will probably be the best “weather-day” to do it this week. This Sunday is Mother’s Day and I imagine that we will have a pretty good attendance. Maybe I told you, but, Mother’s Day is the third best attended church service of the year. Of course last year the churches were all closed. This year people are coming back but many folks are still cautious about returning —- and frankly they would rather watch the service on their television at home for “Jammie Church”. That’s okay, I’m glad they listen in, but they miss the camaraderie of sitting next to someone sharing the word and the faith. But at least we have the capability of doing virtual church services. 

I pulled my first radishes yesterday, I need to cut the lettuce, and my peas are now up about two inches. The tomatoes I planted really look good. So far, the Swiss chard, cucumbers and squash are kind of just sitting there, but none of it has died, so that’s hopeful. We’ve still had cool weather and I suppose everything will take off when it gets warmer. 

That’s all I have for you today. I hope you have a blessed day. Walk outside and listen to the birds, smell the flowers, and breathe in God wonderful world. I walked out by my garden this morning and the lilac smelled heavenly. 

Peace. 

 “May the 4th be with you!”  Yes, I know it’s “hokey” and it has been around since the first Star War’s movie, but I think it is still cute. We find our humor in small doses most of the time and take advantage of it. 

About 0530 this morning, the sky let lose. It may have been raining before then but that is when the thunder and wind got my attention. My weather station out in the yard shows we got .85 inches. I need to go out and se what is in the rain gauge, For some reason it always seems to collect more than “the official” report says.  —— yep, my glass rain gauge had and inch and a half in it. I don’t think it is very accurate. But, going out and checking it gave me an opportunity to check my garden and pull some radishes. I also need to cut some lettuce. I have two kinds out there and they both need cutting. The new lilac I planted out there at the edge of the garden smells heavenly. 

I have beautiful goldfinches  and cardinals out at the Backyard Buffet this morning. I had a squirrel earlier but it took off, and I’ve had an occasional blackbird dart in, grab a couple ll of beak full, and then fly away. The turtle doves and small woodpeckers are flitting in and out too. It makes for a very tranquil setting this morning and I give God praise for another day on His beautiful earth. The rain and the wet atmosphere makes everything look so lush. I wish you could hear all of the birdsong that I am hearing right now. It is beautiful. 

It is currently 67 degrees and we are supposed to have more storms today and tonight, maybe severe. Parts of the nation is having really severe weather. Atlanta had a tornado yesterday and one person was killed when a huge tree fell over on his SUV that he was sitting in. There were at least 20 tornadoes reported yesterday. I haven’t watched the news today so I don’t know what happened last night.  I hope no one else was injured or killed. 

I finished up my May 16th service and sermon last night. Next I work on the 23rd of May which id also Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost Sunday is generally a bit more lively than other Sundays. I pastor a “traditional” parish. Our music is slower. (A bit too slow for my opinion) The hymns are older and have been around forever. Our denomination runs the full gambit of “worship style”. There are churches like my parish and there are churches with bands and loud music and lots of “Praise and Worship” singing. That’s the great thing about a denomination that celebrates individual church autonomy. We don’t get direction “handed down” from the UCC headquarters and we can take it or leave it. Although they certainly let you know their preferred focus and direction. The leadership at the top is very liberal, way too liberal for me. But our parish is just a couple of small rural churches in love with the Lord God. We focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Triune God. 

That’s it for today. Stay dry, stay safe. Take time to lift up your voice to God. Peace. 

 A beautiful and happy Saturday morning to you. I’m not staying long today, just dropping in to say “hello”. Happy 1st of May. When you were in elementary school, was there a big deal made of May Day? It was treated as a spring fun day when I was in the lower grades. 

I’m sitting at he kitchen table playing the waiting game. The Best Buy “Geek Squad” has an appointment at my house this morning between 0800 and 1200 to bring my new television and get everything set up.  Of course I don’t expect them here at 0800 but just in case, I’m doing my blog here where I can see out the window to the street. If I don’t, sure as heck they will be “Johnny-on-the-spot”. I think neighbor Dan is coming over to watch the installation. Actually, he was here and watched them install the one they are removing today. That was two years ago and he stayed here and let them in while I was in the emergency room and then hospital. He was the one that was helping me carry out another TV and we fell down the basement steps with the tv and him on top of me. Not a fun day. It took a year to get through all of that.

We went to the nursery yesterday and bought a new lilac and then we drove all over town looking for okra plants and never did find any. I need to call Colonial Nursery today and see if they have any. I don’t want to drive all the way across town and find out they don’t have any either. I did enough of that yesterday. I thought surely Rural King would have them. But — no luck. While we were at the nursery I bought two bags of their home made potting soil. They make and mix their own. They sell it in I think 50 pound bags. I haven’t lifted a full one yet. But, we had a young girl, cute as a button and probably a high school kid that helped us. She carried those bags like they were nothing and put them in my car. I thought “wow, they must not weigh a lot”. But I got home and found out they are pretty heavy. Bless her little heart. So, after the Geek Squad is gone, I have tomatoes to plant and a new lilac. 

I did get a good start on my service and sermon for the 16th of May. I hope to finish that today. I have ideas for it that I need to get on paper before I forget them. 

Have a blessed weekend. Don’t forget to take time to attend worship service tomorrow. I find that it starts the week off so much better. Peace.