Well now, this is a pleasant change form earlier in the week. Happy Saturday morning. It’s 68 degrees this morning and only going up to the mid 70’s today. It’s going to be a lawn mowing day for sure. And maybe we’ll get some other stuff done too. I need to go get a haircut because it is getting a little long and shaggy. And I think if we have time we will go to the grocery store. I just checked the Accuweather forecast and it said that we will have rain this afternoon, so who knows what will happen. 

Yesterday Ms. Kate and I went for lunch with Brenda and Bob. It was our usual “schrooms and beer” lunch. We were celebrating my birthday a little late. Then we went up to the churches and ran the bulletins  for this Sunday and next Sunday. Kate and I are going out of town next Wednesday and coming home on Thursday so we decided to go ahead and run both weeks bulletins since I had them done. I always try to work ahead “in case something comes up” and lo and behold, something came up late last night. A parishioner from Zoar passed away and I may have to help with or even do the funeral because Pastor Art is having hip replacement on Monday morning. The old military saying is “Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.” Art is meeting with the family today and will let me know. 

After we finished up the bulletins, we went by the orchard and bought some fresh peaches and then headed up to Sister-in-law Karen’s house. A cousin, Robin, had dropped off some sweetcorn for Karen and for us at Karen’s house so we picked that up. I shucked a half dozen ears for supper last night. It was pretty good; not the best we have had this years, but pretty good. 

That took care of my Friday. I did squeeze in a short (20 minute) nap when we got home but that just left me tired. Now, I need to get my shower and head to the barber shop. I hope you have a great weekend. Get out and enjoy this last day of July, 2021. There will never be another one. Peace. 

 It’s already 81 this morning and may be going way on up. Our forecaster said that we may have the hottest day in four years today with a possible heat index of 110. I’ve seen it that hot before many times out in Las Vegas. Here though we have humidity to go with it which makes it sweltering. Out there they talk about their “dry heat” which basically means that you’re sitting in a convection oven. No fun either way. 

So —— today will be another day in the basement with my computer. Maybe I can get some quality writing done today. I did finish the sermon for the 8th of August but still have the power point slides to make. I get so confused when I’m making those and it is all just a mental block. I know how to make the slides but I get confused trying to save them to a file, and the process isn’t all that hard at all. So I don’t know why it confuses me. I’m getting old I guess.

Neighbor Dan was kind enough to bring my garbage can up from the street to the house this morning. I guess he was putting his out and saw mine ready to come in. It saved me a trip down to the street, and with my driveway, “down” is the active verb. Unfortunately, Ms. Kate wrote out the checks for the bills and I have to go down anyway. 

Well, since I have nothing more interesting to talk about than garbage cans, I guess I will close up shop and move on to something else for today. I hope you have a great day and the opportunity to count many blessings.   Peace. 

 Another day, another scorcher. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse and then Friday it is supposed to break and the temps drop back to upper 80’s but the humidity is to drop. Maybe we’ll get a little rain. We could use it again. 

Today is Wednesday and usually we would go to the church and run the bulletins but I think we will stay in again today and maybe tomorrow too. There is an ozone warning out for today and tomorrow and that makes it hard to breathe. I can run the bulletins on Friday afternoon. There is no specific day that I need to have them ready as long as they are done on Sunday morning. 

I just read on Facebook that we have a local Olympic Champion. Ms. Jackie Young is a basketball player that grew up playing at Princeton High school. I never saw her play but many folks in my parish know her and say she is just a great all around kid. She has won many awards and plays for Notre Dame I think on a full ride scholarship. The people of Princeton packed their local theater at 0300 this morning to watch live broadcast of the Olympic basketball game where the USA Team took the gold medal. Her humble motto is; “I’m just a kid from Princeton”. I reckon she has a long career waiting for her. 

I had a young Captain that worked for me several years ago who was on the Olympic Bobsled Team for the ‘88 Olympics. I think they won gold that year. He was a good guy but I’ll tell you one thing, when you have someone like that filling a manpower  slot, be prepared for them to be missing a lot. He was my operations officer and I basically had to do it all by myself because you get no replacements or manpower backfill in cases like that. I also had a tennis player that was the #2 seeded tennis player in the Air Force. He was always gone too because the higher officials always were having him out to play when the visiting generals etc wanted to play tennis. 

I got quite a bit of writing done yesterday. I hope to finish up the sermon for the 8th\ today. I also started another writing but I don’t know what I’m going to do with it just yet. It would probably be a good sermon but also would make a good paper or a pamphlet. It is about church membership and the obligations that go with that. It begs the question; “Are you a member or a number on the roles?” I hope to turn it onto something useful. Lot’s of work to do on it yet though. But, if I work hard enough on it, Maybe I can turn it into a small book that won’t be too boring. My thoughts on making it a sermon are that I would be preaching to the choir and the ones that need to hear it won’t be there anyway. Of course, they wouldn’t be reading it either. So —- who knows what I’ll do. 

I guess I better refill the cup and get busy doing something. Stay indoors if you can I already hear a roofer tap, tap, tapping somewhere in the neighborhood this morning. I feel for them. Peace.; 

 Good morning. As promised by our weather forecaster, it’s already another hot and muggy. I guess the good news is that it is better today than it is supposed to be tomorrow and Thursday. So, — it’s going to be another “inside day” and it’s hoping to be laundry day. I already have it carried out and Ms. kate will separate and start the first load shortly. I think my day will be spent downstairs on the computer working on my sermon. Or maybe, I’ll work on putting worship services together for the rest of the month of August. I have the first two weeks services planned and could go ahead and have that part done. The good part is that I would be ahead of the game as far as that is concerned but the other good part is that I could put of writing my sermon for another few hours. LOL 

I filled the bird-feeders yesterday and the Backyard Buffet is wide open. I’ve had a few visitors but not a lot s far. The word will spread throughout “bird world” though. Of course the squirrel was the first one back. But, he’s not sharing the news. He’ll eat for awhile and then go spread himself over a branch and try to keep cool. I had to hurry up and send in an order for some of my foods that I was out of. I love the fact that Wild Birds Unlimited has online ordering. And if I order $75.00 worth I get free shipping. Believe me, ordering $75.00 worth is no problem at all. My problem is usually trying to keep my order under $100.00. I have an expensive hobby but I think it is worth it. I get enjoyment and God’s creatures get a helping hand. 

I went out and picked tomatoes yesterday. I need to go back out and cut the okra too and check on the cucumbers. We may have to either make some tomato juice or can some tomatoes. The crop is that good. And there is enough okra to put some in the freezer too. Ms. Kate uses it in her vegetable soup. My mother used to make okra and tomatoes and I hated it because the okra was so slimy. But, I like fried okra and I like it in my vegetable soup. 

There is a feeder just outside my kitchen window that I keep there just for the wrens and the finches. They are regular customers there. But as I’m looking at it now, I see that I have to go out and pull the dang morning glory vines off of it again, Those dang morning glories are the Bain of my existence. 

That’s all for today. Stay inside and keep cool if you are able. Peace. 

 Good morning ! It is 0630 and I have no idea why I am up already. I guess Ms. kate and I have shifted our sleeping schedule slightly. Fo years we have gone to bed at midnight or 0100, But for whatever reason, we’ve started going to bed around 2300 just after the news is over. So, I guess it makes sense that w would be up now. And we almost never miss our nap during the day. Good heavens, I think we got old. 

How was your weekend? Did you do anything relaxing or fun? Did you take time to visit your house of worship at some point during the weekend? Our weekend was uneventful. It was just too darn hot to be playing around outside. And that heat continues today and will throughout the week so the forecaster says. It is already 74 degrees with a “feels-like of 85. It’s going up to 91 or so today. 

We had a good worship service yesterday although the attendance was poor. Too many people out on vacation. But, it is the end summer almost and folks have to get their vacation in then they can. School will be starting fairly soon and for the farmers, the corn stalks are full of ears and in another month it will be time to start the harvest. So they all need to take advantage of their down-time while they can. Ms. Kate and I are planning a couple of trips too. We will be heading to Michigan Upper Peninsula  at the end of August for a military reunion and then down to Ohio Amish Country for a couple of days. Next week we are doing an overnight trip to Nashville Indiana.

I’m very sad to report that our church organist at St. Paul’s has had to quit. She has stage four cancer and it has progressed to the point that she can no longer walk or even really set up. She announced the cancer a year ago and has not missed a Sunday until last week. She is currently hospitalized and will be going to a care facility from the hospital. Her name is Karen and I ask you to pray for her. I pray for her comfort because with out an overwhelming miracle, (which of course God can do) she won’t be getting any better. The church is not going to be the same without her. She has been a cornerstone of the church for many years. I think she has been the organist for at least 40 years. 

We had the second of our summer congregational meetings yesterday; St. Paul’s was last week and St. Lucas was yesterday. It was a long meeting but they had a lot of business to discuss. 

Time for me to refill the old coffee cup and move around a bit. Have a pleasant day and a blessed week. Peace. 

 

 Good morning on this hot Friday day. It’s going to be a sticky one again today. When the temperature and the humidity level are about equal, —- it’s a good day to stay inside. Our area is still under a layer of smoke that is coming from up north somewhere making the air quality level not good for us with asthma etc. 

It certainly sad to sit here in my recliner, looking out my window and not seeing any birds at my feeders. The first couple of days after I let them go empty because of some mysterious bird disease I had a lot of birds coming and wanting the usual; food at the Backyard Buffet, especially in the evenings around 1600 hours. But it has declined rapidly and they are going elsewhere to eat which was the alleged desired affect.  Two mornings ago I was sitting here and two huge Pileated Woodpeckers sitting not two feet from my windows looking for their favorite treats and the feeders were empty. I have yet to see a sick bird or a dead bird and all of a sudden there is nothing in the media about this anymore. It’s really aggravating and suspicious when the scientists and media make all of these claims and show you no proof. I’m going to give it through tomorrow and come Sunday I’m filling my feeders back up.  This is ridiculous

I still haven’t finished my August 1st sermon. In fact, I haven’t  touched it since Wednesday. I reckon today is a great day to finish that up since I don’t intend to go outside and do anything except maybe check the garden for more maters, okra, and cucumbers. I have two pots containing Sweet 100”s tomatoes just out the patio door and I can see a hand full of little tomatoes beckoning to me. Their life span is extremely limited at the moment. But — they will have fulfilled their role in God’s universe. LOL

It is second cup time so I guess I will stop for today. I hope you can stay cool today and I hope you have a great weekend. Peace. 

 

 Good morning and Happy Thursday. Sorry I didn’t stop by yesterday but can you believe I frankly just forgot.? Is that what being 77 is going to be like??? LOL

In my defense, I did get some work done outside again yesterday. I had told you tat The John Deere dealer had returned my LT 150 after servicing it. Let me tell you, that thing ran like a brand new one. I’m very happy with it. I mowed both my front and back yard yesterday morning. The front yard wasn’t as bad as the back yard. My neighbor Deb and come over and mowed it last week. I know I told you about working out there in the backyard flower beds  but it still had not been mowed. Well, now it looks great back there. I’m just glad to have my little JD back in the pasture where it belongs. When I finished with the mowing I went to my little raised bed garden and picked my produce. It was a great haul, lots of tomatoes, and okra, and cucumbers were ready for picking. 

I spent a good deal of time on my sermon for the 1st of August. It’s always amazes me that I can spend so much time and seemingly get hardly anything down on paper. I don’t know why it tis me so much time to sift through the scriptures and things other people have said about a particular scripture or topic, but it does. Most of the time I spend trying to make sure that what I write is first of all, biblical, and secondly that it makes sense to somebody besides me. Ms. Kate chides me once in a while because she says I’m using “Preacher-speak”. I know exactly what she means because I get lost listening to or reading other preachers. 

Today is going to be “bulletin day”. I need to go up to the church and take care of that today since I didn’t do it yesterday. Then this afternoon I have to take the Prius in for its 20,000 mile servicing. We’re getting ready to go on a couple of trips and I need the car ready to roll. Having said all of that, I better get ready to head up to the church. I don’t think Ms. Kate is going with me so it will take me a little bit longer.

The weekend is coming up and I hope you get a chance to enjoy it. Don’t neglect to stay in touch with God. After all, you weekend is courtesy of Him. Peace. 

 Happy birthday to me; happy birthday to me; happy birthday to meeeeee; happy birthday to me! Yep, I turn 77 today. That two years more than 3/4 of a century. God does have a sense of humor. My morning has been flooded with birthday wishes from all over the country and locally too. My Facebook page has been inundated with well wishes. How much love can a guy take?? It has been wonderful. 

Yesterday I got off of my butt and went out and spent seven hours working in my backyard flowerbeds. It is back under control or some facsimile there of. It was a tiring job but thank goodness it wasn’t too hot and there was a really good breeze all day long. I still need to bring the LT150 around and mow. But it all looks so much better. I started with my battery powered weed eater and it battery wore out fairly quickly. So, I went and got our electric one. I don’t like to use the electric one because I don’t like dragging the cord around but — boy howdy, that thing trims like a demon. I think we have had it for two or three years and it has never been used. I bought it because Ms. Kate wanted it. But I can drag a cord around a lot cheaper than buying a new battery operated one. And I still have the gas powered one that I want to try to use again, if I can get it started. 

I need to make a hospital visit today for one of my parishioners who was admitted yesterday. The hospital limits visitors to two at a time. I talked to her daughter this morning who said she would step out so I could visit but I’ll wait until this afternoon when the daughter goes to work. 

Other than that, I’ve got no new news. Ms. Kate is going to fix me some french toast for breakfast for my birthday. Sounds like a great plan.  Have a great day. 

 Happy new week!, Yes, it’s Monday morning. It is 72 degrees out side, the sun is shining brightly and there is no breeze at all. It is going up to 87 degrees today which in humid climate means sweat. So, if I am going to get anything done outside today, I need to get on it pretty soon. So, I’ll jot a few words here, have another cup of coffee or at least top off the cup I’m drinking and finish that, then get dressed for outside work and grab my weed eater. We aren’t supposed to have any rain this week so it will be good to see things dry out. 

In case you missed my “mini-rant” this morning on Facebook, I have shut down thee Backyard Buffet temporarily. The DNR has recommended that we stop feeding our songbirds due to some kind of disease that is killing them. They don’t know what it is but they have determined that it is not avian flu. I guess song bird are dropping all over the country so they want people to quit feeding them. The recommendation is to empty your feeders and clean them with bleach water and let them be empty for aa couple of weeks. I haven’t seen any dead birds around here and Lord knows I have enough birds to have had the opportunity. But, it is tiresome. As I said in my post this morning, in 2020 we had COVID pandemic, which still isn’t over due to variants of it. For that we had to hide in our houses, mask up like bandits if we went outside, and stay at least six feet apart. And whether you actually had it or not —- you might be a carrier and be asymptomatic. Now, in 2021, it’s the birds that may or may not have a disease that no one knows what it is but we are supposed to quit feeding them and take all kinds of precautions. Oh, and the only way to know is if you can see it’s eyes and they are “crusty”. Who gets close enough to to a bird to tell id its eyes are crusty??? I suppose next year they will tell us that flowers are dangerous and we should dig them all up and burn them.  Who makes all of these rules?? Okay, rant done. 

We had a good worship service yesterday and attendance was okay but a bit sparse. Summer vacations do take a toll on attendance. After the service, we had our summer congregational meeting at St. Paul’s. Next Sunday we will do the summer congregational meeting at St. Lucas. 

Today is the last day that I am 76 years old. Tomorrow I turn 77. Who would of thunk it??? I’m glad to say that while I may look my age, I don’t feel 77. That’s a good thing. 

Time for me to be productive. You have yourself a wonderful week. Stay in touch daily with the God that created you, sustains you and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bring you eternal life and salvation. Peace. 

 Aaaah! Saturday morning has arrived and brought sunshine with it. Welcome Sunshine!! It’s nice not to see a bunch of clouds and rain this morning. 

Well, I took the chance and went and slept in the bed last night. I’ve been in the recliner because my surgeon said that I might tear open my incision and that should wait through the weekend. But, I had zero problem. I’m ready to call this thing done and get back to my normal life. Assuming it hasn’t rained so much as to make the ground sloppy and or soggy I am going to to go in the back yard and pick up the branches and twigs that broke off of the trees during all of the wind that we have been having. They are all dead branches and none of them are huge, but they need to be picked up and gotten rid of. And, I may go ahead and take my string trimmer there and do some weed whacking. My backyard looks terrible. The front yard didn’t look much better but bless my neighbor, Deb McKnight, she drove her John Deere over and mowed the front yard for me and then came back and ran the trimmer around one of my flower beds. That’s the first time she has ever done that and I’m very grateful. 

One thing that I need to do today is write a pastor’s report for the churches summer meeting. Tomorrow St. Paul’s has their meeting and then next weekend, St. Lucas will have theirs. The report doesn’t have to be anything long or complicated. We’re simple folk. It is just to let them know how I’m earning my salary and catch people up on what is going on in the larger church. I probably should write that report before I do anything else today. If I don’t I’ll either forget to do it or put it off. 

Ms. Kate and I are planning an overnight trip up to Nashville, IN the first week of August. There is a store up there that she wants to go to and look for a new piece of yard art. I bought her a piece the last tome we were up there and she loves it, (well, so do I). We’ll go during the week so we miss the weekend traffic. Nashville, IN is a cute little artsy/fartsy place and quite touristy. We’ve invited Karen to go with us and she said yes. I’ve reserved rooms for us at the Brown County Inn. And I also made dinner reservations at the Farmhouse Cafe and Tea House for us. The last time we were up there we heard about that place and drove around until we found it. But, we got there and couldn’t get in without reservations. So, this time I have us aa table all reserved. 

I’ve gabbed enough, time to write my report and get my day going. Have a blessed weekend. Attend your local house of worship and give God thanks for your blessings. Peace. 

 Happy early Thursday morning. What the heck am I doing up at 0530?? I think the answer is that one can only sleep so long in a recliner. I got my stitches out yesterday in my eyelids but the doctor said I had to stay in my recliner through Sunday. I guess the skin of the eyelids is extremely delicate and thin and if you toss and tumble a lot during the night, it is possible to tear the incision back open. And, —- she is still keeping me off of yard work. I told her there will be tigers in my grass soon but she wasn’t impressed. 

The whole process of the eye surgery went very well. If you are of an age where your eyelids are starting to droop and it is affecting your vision ion any way, check with your eye doctor and see if you are a candidate for this procedure. It wasn’t painful although it will make you look like heck for a week or so. I’ve been very impressed with my surgical team. The doctor called me after the surgery on the night of the procedure. The surgical center called me to check on me, and I got a card of thanks yesterday with “well-wishes. That is impressive. I’m scheduled to go back for a follow-up in a month if I need it. 

The John Deere dealership is going to deliver my LT150 this morning sometime. I had planned on jumping on it and mowing today before we get rain again. However, the doctor put the Kabosh on that which means my wife also put the kabosh on it. So, I guess I will just put it into the garage until I can take it out to play. 

After my stitch removal yesterday, Ms. Kate and I drove up the highway to a place and picked up some sweet corn. Came back home and picked up some of our tomatoes and okra along with a few ears of corn and took her sister Karen some. Last night I threw a couple of ribeyes on the grill while Ms. Kate fixed some corn on the cob and cut up some fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. Now that is a summer meal for sure. 

Today I will finish my sermon for the 25th and depending how I feel, I may start on August 1st. But, one thing at a time. But for now, I need to put my shoes and my jeans on and wait for the JD guy to bring back my mower. You have a blessed day. 

 A grand Tuesday morning to you!!  That sounds much more “chipper”than I actually feel. But the sun is a little brighter today and it isn’t raining. But I’m going slow this morning. I don’t feel bad but I had another night in the recliner and I’m really tired of that. Tonight will be my last night because i get my stitches out tomorrow. I can’t believe I spent six weeks in that chair just two years ago. Of course my situation was totally different then, It was one of the few places I could be because of my braces and an inability to walk without a walker or wheelchair or my little scooter.  This time it is only because I’m supposed to sleep with my head above my heart and I don’t want to tear any stitches out and make a mess on the pillow or sheets. 

Not much on my agenda again today of course. I will spend the day writing my sermon for the 25th of July. I started on it last night and got one page done but I’m not all that pleased with it. Ithink it will need some tailoring. As often happens, I write and then I read and I find myself wandering around a thought but not actually getting to it. I don’t know how people who write for a living do it. My mentor, Art Christmas has written several books and they are well written. But, I guess that is different than writing a 15 - 20 minute speech every week. Of course, he can drop a sermon on you in a minute; —- but then he’s been writing and giving sermons for 60+ years. Give him a scripture, and he can turn it in to a sermon. Amazing. And he does his from just notes. I have to write mine out to make sure I don’t wander off into the pasture somewhere. 

This morning I need to call the Toyota dealership and set up my service appointment. I’ve reached the 20K mileage point on my little Prius. I’m really glad we bought it. That 55 mpg really is great. And it is mostly comfortable to drive. There are a couple of feature missing that we have on the Cadillac but in the long run, we don’t miss them that much. It certainly isn’t as solid as my Cadillac but then it isn’t as heavy either. I reckon that makes up for the good gas mileage. 

I just got a call from the John Deere folks that they will be bringing my lawn buddy home on Thursday morning. Hopefully it won’t be raining and I can get out there and use it. The rain is making for some tall grass. 

Time for me to clean my self up, finish my coffee, and maybe accomplish something worthwhile today. I hope your day is pleasant and full of joy. Stay in touch with the Lord. Peace. 

 Good morning on a dreary Monday morning. I heard it sprinkling rain much of the night it seemed. Because of my surgery, I’m still sleeping in my recliner, although I don’t see a reason for it at this point. I’m supposed to keep my head above my heart, I guess to keep the blood from settling where the doctor did the surgery. My eyes are looking better. They aren’t quite as swollen as they were, nor as black as they were. I guess the other reason is that I may rub the incisions on a pillow and work a stitch lose. That could make a mess on the pillow. I just know I’m very tired on my recliner. I’m still limited on my bending over and doing things too. I think I need to re-read my instructions and make sure I’m not getting something wrong. Although, my favorite nurse read them pretty thoroughly last evening. I’m still putting ice packs on the lids and eyes to reduce swelling and we are putting the arithromiacin ointment on the sutures until Wednesday morning. That’s when I get the stitches out. I’ll be glad because they are starting to itch,which is a good indication that there is healing going on. 

I was able to conduct my church service yesterday with no problem. Of course many people had comment s and questions about my eyes and hard hard did Ms. Kate smack me and what did I do to deserve that. LOL. But I had anticipated that. But, I was able to read just fine and the service went well. And —- it was well attended. I was a bit surprised that there were so many there. Yesterday was the first day of the Gibson County Fair and generally we have a lot of people gone because the are taking animals to the fair etc. But in reality, I guess we are in a period where we don’t have a lot of kids showing their animals and 4-H projects. All of my 4-H kids grew up. I did have a few grandparents say they were headed to the fair to look at projects etc. And of course, they were headed to the fairground to get “Fair-fish” sandwiches for lunch. That seems to be a big thing and a favorite up there. I’ve had them and to me they are just a fish sandwich, but they do seem to be a people’s choice thing during the Gibson County Fair. 

I always loved going to the fair when I was a kid in 4-H. I had Tamworth hogs that I raised to show for the  fair. And I had an entomology project one year and collected bugs, and leaves for forestry, and of course garden. Boy, I remember when the county extension agent used to go around and grade your garden. They looked at how weed free it was and whether it was hoed properly, did you have the right border flowers to keep deer and bugs away. I don’t think I ever got better than a red ribbon. On my garden and maybe a few blue ribbons for my other stuff but not many. That never made my parents very happy. But, I have to say, I always earned my own ribbons, My parents never did my projects for me like I know so many do today, and did then too. What ever I got —- I earned myself. 

That’s it for today. I need to put my ice-pack on my eyes again. I hope your week is blessed and full of good things. Peace, my friends. 

 There is an old saying that talks about a cow peeing on a flat rock. It refers to a heavy stream of rain. It is 0530 and that is what we have going on right now. There’s lots of thunder, some lightening and a lot of rain. This storm, according to radar will go another hour and a half. Streets are going to be flooded this morning for those folks heading to work. Thankfully it is Saturday morning and many folks are off for the weekend. But, I lift up a prayer for those that do have to be out in this. Turn around, don’t drown. The storm woke me up so I’m having my first coffee, talking to Lisa via FB Messenger and writing this. I’ll be back in my chair to continue my night’s sleep before long. 

My face doesn’t look terrible this morning; or not as bad as I thought it might look. I still have some swelling of course and bruising but I thought it might be really black and blue and swollen. It isn’t and there is no pain involved at this point. I had to take some Tylenol yesterday especially after the nerve block wore off of my face. Took two more last night before bed time and slept well. I’m sleeping in the recliner because I’m supposed to keep my hear above my heart and I don’t want to risk rubbing my stitches on a pillow and tearing something. Our recliners are comfortable if you don’t have to be in them too many days and nights. Two years ago, as you might recall, I spent about three months in my recliner with my leg injury and surgeries. So, this is nothing. Depending on how the day goes, I may be in it again tonight. I hope not, I need a restful night’s sleep before I conduct my church service tomorrow. 

The yard needs mowing, especially the back yard. But with the rain and my surgery, that isn’t happening till next week. I got a call from the John Deere dealer and it is going to cost my around $350.00 for the servicing and repairs to my mower. If it comes back running well, it’s a great deal; a lot cheaper than a new one. We passed a house yesterday where a guy had a small JD tractor. It had all of the attachments on it; a front-end loader, a mower deck under the tractor, a back-hoe on the rear. I was jealous for a moment or so. I think that would be really fun to use. But, you don’t something like that for a 14,000 sq ft yard. I’ve seen that model on John Deere commercials and it always looks like fun. I’ll bet it cost at least $25 grand with all of those attachments. 

Well, the storm seems to have subsided. I don’t hear any more thunder and I think maybe the rain has stopped for awhile. I’m going to crawl back into my recliner, put a cold washcloth on my eyes and maybe snooze. Have a blessed morning. Peace. 

 July 9th. I had my eye surgery this morning and it went extremely well. Dr. Kathleen Flanagan did the surgery. It was called a “Bi-lateral” something or other. Basically she went in and removed excess drooping skin from eyelids. So, now I slightly resemble a raccoon. I have some swelling round the eyes and they are slightly black but not too bad. I have some light pain management to deal with but Tylenol took care of most of that. Sitting here writing this blog doesn’t help it I reckon. Too much close concentration. But, I’m going to keep it short. Just wanted to catch you up since I had told you I was going to have this thing done. Ms. Kate is fixing lunch right now and after that, I’m going to put ice packs back on the eyes and take a nap. We were up at 0530 to be there at 0630. Seems a bit silly since the surgery wasn’t until 0800, but it is what it is. 

We had some pretty heavy storms yesterday evening. Our power went out at 1530 but our generator kicked on immediately. It ran for three hours before the commercial power kicked back in. Buying that generator several years ago was a good choice. We don’t lose power very often but I never have to worry about it when we do. We were the only house on the block with power. Being hooked up to the glass line that comes into the house is a really good thing. I don’t have to worry running out of propane or mess with propane tanks at all. 

The potato soup is done and on the table so I’m dropping off. Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Good morning on this July 7th morning. It’s already getting steamy out there this morning. I think that is because it must have rained some time last night or early this morning. The back sidewalk is damp still. The temperature is 75 but the “real-feel” is 85. Yep, that’s muggy. I see neighbor Dan is sitting out on his front porch. He has a beautiful deck out back but I don’t think he ever sits out there. It’s on the east side of his house and in the sun all morning. He’s not surrounded by huge trees like I am. So, he sits on the west side of the house in the shade and drinks his “instant coffee”. Yuk. I don’t know why he doesn’t brew a pot of coffee; I guess his wife tells him he can’t have more than one cup. Who knows, people be funny. 

We have laundry going already this morning. We’re also changing out the bed clothes so there will be an extra load to do. I’ve told you before that I don’t mind doing laundry at all. However, I don’t like stripping the beds etc. I don’t know why. Maybe it goes back to my childhood. I’ve been making my own bed since I was probably six years old. My bed sat against a wall and it was always hard to get the sheets on and off and the blankets were a pain too. My dad had served in WWII and he insisted on the “bounce a quarter” tightness of the blankets. 

Julie is still here but will be leaving this morning sometime I reaction. It has been a wonderful visit with her. We’ve had lots of good chatter and visiting. But, she’s heading home to get some of her work done around her house while she is still on vacation. 

I’m not sure what we are going to do today. It’s Wednesday and that is when we normally go to run the bulletins. But since we don’t know when Jules is heading home, and we are doing laundry which will consume “X” amount of time, and I really need to finish the sermon that I’m working on. I only have today and tomorrow to really finish it before my surgery. Ms. Kate has banned me from computer work Friday and Saturday because she thinks it will bother my eyes. She may be right. I don’t know. But everything I hear says the procedure is really no big deal. And I’m looking forward to having it done. But, I still need to get this sermon written. So, —— maybe I’ll finish the sermon today and then tomorrow we’ll go up to the church and run the bulletins early and then go out and have breakfast somewhere. 

I still have not heard anything from the John Deere dealer about them fixing my LT150. They are a slow crew and they are expensive. I also have to set up a day to take my Toyota in for its scheduled servicing.  I’ve hit 20,000 miles on it now. I’m really glad I bought that car. It’s comfortable, gets 58 mpg, and easy to drive. 

Okay, enough for today. No use just Corning on. Y’all have a blessed day. Peace. 

 Happy fifth of July! I hope your 4th of July was happy and safe, and full of joy and laughter and loved ones. Julie came over on Friday night and is staying until Wednesday. Today is her birthday and she always takes her birthday week off for a vacation. It’s a slow time for her at work so she can afford to tak the time. The fall rush will come soon enough. And she will be starting back to school herself. She has only four more classes to complete her Bachelors’ Degree. I’m so proud of her.To finally be completing her degree at 54 years of age is just so indicative of her perseverance. LOL, and she still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. That’s our sweetheart. 

Jim came over on Saturday and helped me get somethings done around here that I needed help to do. We widened the circle around the the new tulip poplar thatI had planted out front a few years ago. I wanted it easier to mow around and had bought some more mulch/potting soil around it. It looks a look better now. We basically just dug up the layer of sod around the tree. Dan from across the street was glad o get the sod to put in an area he needed it. Jim also got up on the sunporch roof and cleaned all of the leaves and twigs that had accumulated on there. I knew it had been collecting up there but wow —- there was a lot of stuff up there. Jim went on home Saturday evening because he was scheduled to bowl in a tournament on Sunday morning. Unfortunately for him, his partner didn’t show up and he didn’t get to bowl. 

Yesterday, I did my morning worship service. Ms. Kate and Julie stayed home. Jules wasn’t feeling that good so Ms. Kate stayed home with her. The service went very well and we had a full church which really surprised me. I thought that it might be a slim congregation what with it being a holiday where folks generally take off. But the church was full, and I can think of probably 15 or twenty people that weren’t there. Who do normally come. It was a blessing. 

We didn’t do anything at all yesterday except laze around here at home. We finally called Olive Garden and did a curbside pick up, brought it home and had supper. We watched the local city fireworks on television and that was a really good show. I was glad that they showed it on television because while it was a good performance, I would not have wanted to put up with the traffic of crowds. There is always several hundred thousand people that show up for it. 

Today is going to be another hot one and humid. I’m going to do some vegetables and smoked sausage on my our-door griddle today for either lunch or for supper. It depends on what the ladies want me to do. I guess I will also try to do some writing for my July 18th sermon and put that service together. Other than that we will just laze around and celebrate Julie’s birthday in peace and quiet. 

So here we are in the second week of July already and time marches on. I hope your July has started well and continues that way. Peace my friends. 

 What a beautiful morning we are having. It is 1030 and the temperature is just now 70 degrees. The sun is shining, the humidity is tolerable, and I think the high today is to be 81. And —- the rain has come and gone. We got about three inches which is just right. 

I had to start my day out at my surgeon’s office for a meeting with the nurse to go over my procedure for a week from today. It will be a simple thing. Dr. Flanagan will simply remove some of the drooping, excess skin from each eye. I’ll have to sleep in my recliner for a few nights to keep my head up. I tend to toss and turn in my bed every night, rolling from one side to the other. In the recliner, I won’t do that and therefore I won’t be rubbing my eyes on my pillow. 

After I left the doctor’s office I went to Parlour Doughnuts and picked up a few for the weekend. Jules loves them and so do we. I particularly like the coconut Creme but this morning I had a strawberry shortcake one. It was wonderful. I think I have tried most of their doughnuts and have only found a couple that I would not buy again. I had never heard of this place until Julie introduced it to us. It isn’t a place we get to very often because it is on the other side of town and when we do get to that area, we generally aren’t thinking about doughnuts. That’s probably a good thing. It’s bad enough that I live half way between two Dairy Queen’s It is literally a three minute drive down to the Dairy Queen and is so easy to pop down there for an evening Blizzard. 

I’m going to go out and do some hoeing in my garden this morning if it isn’t too wet. I also want to mow the front yard. And I need to run the weed eater around the flowerbeds. This is the 4th of July weekend and people will be having company and driving through the neighborhood. I want my yard to look good. Yesterday we drove through the cemetery to make sure the flowers on the graves also looked good. Probably nobody would notice or care, but we would know. 

The A/C guy is here now to do the annual spring checkup and maintenance on the unit and to replace the filter on the furnace. ur units work very well and we want to keep them working well so we have them come out in the spring to check the A/C and in the fall to check the furnace. The filter is a heppa  filter and gets changed out every spring. Speaking of —- looks like he has finished and is about ready to hand me the paperwork. So, I’m going to sign off for today. Have a blessed day. Peace. 

30

 Good morning and a happy rainy Thursday to you. We have had a blessed rain. Not too heavy and mostly gentle. The flowers and the gardens and the crops are all getting exactly what they need to be successful. This is a rain that will soak in and do a lot of good. So of course, I’m giving God all praise for this blessing. 

Yesterday we had a good day around here. We went up to the church yesterday morning and ran the bulletins for this coming Sunday. That doesn’t take too long although I made a dumb error while running them. I put the paper in, put the item to be copied on the glass, and set the copier for 50 copies. When they were done, I pulled out the copies and they were all wrong. I couldn’t figure out why. So, I threw those in the recycle can, put some more paper in and this time ran only one copy, —- and it was still wrong. This I was beginning to frustrate me, so I tried again and it was still wrong. Then it dawned on me that I had the original turned the wrong way on the copier. Duuuuh!!! I’ve only been using that machine for 16 years, but sometimes it happens that way. Getting old isn’t always graceful. But it still beats the alternative. 

After we finished at the church we went to Rz’s Cafe and Catering for Lunch. We used to go there every single Sunday after services but have gotten out of the habit. Lunch was good as usual, I had the fried chicken plate special. And it was good to see the owner once again and the waitress that always took care of us. 

On the way home we took the “back roads” way home. It is a beautiful drive through the country side and we love seeing the crops that are growing and the freshly cut wheat fields. I stopped and took a few pictures along the way. 

We came home, the rain had started so I sat in the sunporch and listened to the rain and may or may not have dozed off for a nap. LOL. Then I went downstairs and got to work on my sermon for the 11th. Around supper time, I called and ordered Chinese for supper and went and picked that up. Ms. Kate and I spent the rest of the evening watching television together which is vary rare except at 1830 every evening when we watch Steve Harvey and Family Feud. We also watch TV together on Thursday evening and watch Mountain Men or Swamp People, depending on which TV season it is. 

Wow!!!! It is really pouring down rain now! It reminded me of the tropical rains we had when we were stationed in the Philippines. But those were always “warm rains”. I suspect this is a bit cooler. And — guess what, —- it is putting me to sleep so i better get out of this recliner and get busy. 

Have a blessed day. Peace.